Writers mess with 'the Zohan'

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By Christian Toto

Adam Sandler's "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" promises to be something different from his usual lowbrow romp. It's got a zinger of a hook - an Israeli superagent trading in his guns for a pair of styling scissors. Also, comedy king Judd Apatow ("Knocked Up") co-wrote the script.

Promises, promises.

The sight of Mr. Sandler, bulked up and sporting a coif at least 20 years out of date, makes for a winning gag. Zohan's physical prowess also yields some giddy set pieces, including a hilarious foot assault on a surly New Yorker.

"He's like Rembrandt with a grenade," one starry-eyed observer cries.

In an ambitious subplot, Zohan's battles against Palestinian terrorists spark a running commentary on the perpetual Middle East conflict, a subject rarely touched in mainstream movies, let alone slapstick comedies.

However, all of this occurs in the film's first 20 minutes, leaving plenty of time for the actual plot - or what passes for plot - in Mr. Sandler's alternative film universe.

The unstoppable Zohan fakes his own death and comes to America to start a career making people's hair "silky smooth," a catchphrase that isn't funny the first time, let alone the 20th.

He quickly finds work in an ethnically diverse part of the Big Apple, where tensions between Israeli and Arab shopkeepers are always at a low boil.

Zohan persuades a salon owner ("Entourage's" Emmanuelle Chriqui) to give him a tryout, and the Israeli does more than cut hair to her satisfaction. He seduces a series of older female clients, taking them into the salon's backroom to, ahem, complete his services.

Meanwhile, an old enemy of Zohan's, a Palestinian cabbie played by Rob Schneider, spots him in the salon and declares a personal holy war against him.